Scottish Executive

Audit Scotland

Campbell Martin (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether Audit Scotland’s practice of not releasing into the public domain any papers relating to an auditor’s investigation where it was determined that no significant audit issue existed is correct and proper and complies with the requirement of public bodies to be open and accountable.

Mr Andy Kerr: Audit Scotland is a statutory body independent of the Scottish Executive. The releasing of papers by Audit Scotland is therefore not a matter for the Executive. Such questions should be raised with the Auditor General for Scotland and the Chairman of the Accounts Commission.

Cancer

Mrs Margaret Ewing (Moray) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the funding allocated to its cancer plan is from national lottery funding.

Malcolm Chisholm: None. New Opportunities Fund (NOF) complements and enhances funding available from other public and private sources. NOF programmes support local, regional and national strategies and plans in Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Drug Misuse

Richard Lochhead (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the drug misuse funding distribution formula will be changed to take into account prevalence rates and, if so, when the change will be implemented.

Malcolm Chisholm: The formula for allocating funding to NHS boards for drug treatment services will take prevalence data into account from 1 April 2004.

Drug Misuse

Richard Lochhead (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how the new GP contract will affect the number of hours available for treating drug misusers.

Malcolm Chisholm: A GPs working day is not split into allocated times to deal with different clinical needs, such as drug misuse, diabetics, asthmatics etc. Rather, GPs make themselves available for their patients and deal with each case as it arises.

  Under the terms of the current contract, the services which a doctor is required to render for drug misusers include, where appropriate, to give advice personally to patients relating to the misuse of drugs and solvents.

  Under the terms of the new GMS contract, provisions to help patients suffering from drugs misuse will be available as a specific national enhanced service. Practices will be contracted to provide a service to patients suffering from drug misuse. Such a service will include the development and co-ordination of the care of drug users and the development of practice guidelines, the treatment of dependent drug users with appropriate support as required and the provision of care for drug misusers outside the practice’s own registered list.

  Each practice contracted to provide these services will receive an annual retainer fee, a withdrawal fee per patient per annum, and a maintenance fee per patient, per annum.

Drug and Alcohol Misuse

Richard Lochhead (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will act upon the plans submitted earlier this year by the drug and alcohol action teams to tackle alcohol misuse and why, and when, these plans were requested.

Mr Tom McCabe: The submission and analysis of local alcohol action plans is a key part of the accountability process for the £2.5 million the Executive provides each year to support alcohol and drug action teams (ADATs). We have given feedback on the alcohol action plans submitted this year and will use these plans as a baseline to monitor local progress and to inform future decisions about resourcing. The requirement for ADATs to draw up and publish alcohol action plans was given in the plan for action on alcohol problems, published in January 2002. A template to inform ADATs of the information to be included in local plans was issued in July 2002.

Equine Industry

Dr Sylvia Jackson (Stirling) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has published, and made available on its website, responses received to the consultation exercise on the introduction of horse passports.

Ross Finnie: Responses to consultation exercises are placed in the Scottish Executive library for public access.

Forensic Science

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider removing control over fingerprinting services from the police to a national fingerprint service.

Cathy Jamieson: The future structure, organisation and oversight of all common police services in Scotland, including the Scottish Criminal Records Office which is currently responsible for the Scottish Fingerprint Service, is being considered as part of an on-going review.

Influenza

John Scott (Ayr) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether adequate supplies of the influenza vaccine are available for all patients who require the vaccination.

Malcolm Chisholm: Based on liaison with NHS boards and vaccine manufacturers, the Executive is confident that there is, at present, no mismatch between demand for and supplies of influenza vaccine, and that further stocks are readily available, if required.

Mental Health

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the average waiting time was in each NHS board area for a first appointment with a consultant clinical psychologist in (a) 1999-2000, (b) 2000-01, (c) 2001-02 and (d) 2002-03.

Malcolm Chisholm: The information requested is not available centrally.

Schools

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-17513 by Nicol Stephen on 4 September 2001, what the most recent data are on the number of children enrolled for (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in each local authority area with a record of needs and what each of these figures represents as a percentage of the total number of pupils in the relevant sector in each area.

Peter Peacock: The information requested is provided in following Tables 1 and 2.

  Table 1: Number of Pupils with a Record of Needs in Publicly Funded Primary Schools

  

 
 September 
  2001
 September 
  2002


 Total 
  Number of Pupils
 Number 
  of Pupils with Record of Needs
 Percentage 
  of Pupils with Record of Needs
 Total 
  Number of Pupils
 Number 
  of Pupils with Record of Needs
 Percentage 
  of Pupils with Record of Needs


 Scotland 
 420,521
 4,303
 1.0%
 413,713
 4,165
 1.0%


 Aberdeen City
 14,555
 195
 1.3%
 14,082
 179
 1.3%


 Aberdeenshire
 20,614
 211
 1.0%
 20,370
 207
 1.0%


 Angus
 9,295
 110
 1.2%
 9,323
 120
 1.3%


 Argyll and Bute
 7,371
 78
 1.1%
 7,283
 87
 1.2%


 Clackmannanshire
 4,342
 35
 0.8%
 4,303
 35
 0.8%


 Dumfries and Galloway
 12,391
 218
 1.8%
 12,138
 210
 1.7%


 Dundee City
 11,313
 165
 1.5%
 10,990
 144
 1.3%


 East Ayrshire
 10,583
 65
 0.6%
 10,340
 83
 0.8%


 East Dunbartonshire
 10,216
 50
 0.5%
 10,012
 35
 0.3%


 East Lothian
 8,176
 47
 0.6%
 8,050
 65
 0.8%


 East Renfrewshire
 8,748
 73
 0.8%
 8,755
 55
 0.6%


 Edinburgh City
 28,563
 366
 1.3%
 27,856
 227
 0.8%


 Eilean Siar
 2,218
 58
 2.6%
 2,172
 64
 2.9%


 Falkirk
 12,465
 135
 1.1%
 12,250
 148
 1.2%


 Fife
 29,406
 241
 0.8%
 28,969
 266
 0.9%


 Glasgow City
 44,540
 255
 0.6%
 43,572
 260
 0.6%


 Highland
 18,434
 293
 1.6%
 18,190
 272
 1.5%


 Inverclyde
 7,150
 155
 2.2%
 6,918
 130
 1.9%


 Midlothian
 7,226
 40
 0.6%
 6,985
 37
 0.5%


 Moray
 7,847
 179
 2.3%
 7,826
 190
 2.4%


 North Ayrshire
 12,116
 70
 0.6%
 11,972
 63
 0.5%


 North Lanarkshire
 28,866
 192
 0.7%
 28,647
 209
 0.7%


 Orkney Islands
 1,745
 12
 0.7%
 1,689
 6
 0.4%


 Perth & Kinross
 10,719
 160
 1.5%
 10,665
 136
 1.3%


 Renfrewshire
 14,945
 177
 1.2%
 14,606
 167
 1.1%


 Scottish Borders
 8,948
 140
 1.6%
 8,915
 149
 1.7%


 Shetland Islands
 2,097
 25
 1.2%
 2,069
 41
 2.0%


 South Ayrshire
 8,969
 113
 1.3%
 8,763
 110
 1.3%


 South Lanarkshire
 26,141
 268
 1.0%
 25,823
 280
 1.1%


 Stirling
 7,042
 42
 0.6%
 7,020
 50
 0.7%


 West Dunbartonshire
 8,320
 35
 0.4%
 8,103
 36
 0.4%


 West Lothian
 15,160
 100
 0.7%
 15,057
 104
 0.7%



  Source: September School Census.

  Table 2: Number of Pupils with a Record of Needs in Publicly Funded Secondary Schools

  


 September 
  2001
 September 
  2002


 
 Total 
  Number of Pupils
 Number 
  of Pupils with Record of Needs
 Percentage 
  of Pupils with Record of Needs
 Total 
  Number of Pupils
 Number 
  of Pupils with Record of Needs
 Percentage 
  of Pupils with Record of Needs


 Scotland 
 316,359
 4,961
 1.6%
 316,903
 4,860
 1.5%


 Aberdeen City
 10,942
 150
 1.4%
 10,628
 159
 1.5%


 Aberdeenshire
 15,308
 245
 1.6%
 15,522
 269
 1.7%


 Angus
 7,113
 137
 1.9%
 6,967
 129
 1.9%


 Argyll and Bute
 5,590
 84
 1.5%
 5,635
 85
 1.5%


 Clackmannanshire
 3,036
 79
 2.6%
 2,966
 62
 2.1%


 Dumfries and Galloway
 9,620
 263
 2.7%
 9,666
 248
 2.6%


 Dundee City
 8,809
 212
 2.4%
 8,664
 185
 2.1%


 East Ayrshire
 8,065
 147
 1.8%
 8,129
 126
 1.6%


 East Dunbartonshire
 8,857
 37
 0.4%
 8,846
 59
 0.7%


 East Lothian
 5,318
 42
 0.8%
 5,482
 45
 0.8%


 East Renfrewshire
 7,344
 97
 1.3%
 7,512
 78
 1.0%


 Edinburgh City
 20,016
 197
 1.0%
 20,116
 197
 1.0%


 Eilean Siar
 1,948
 67
 3.4%
 1,981
 61
 3.1%


 Falkirk
 8,498
 121
 1.4%
 8,654
 109
 1.3%


 Fife
 23,032
 329
 1.4%
 22,949
 302
 1.3%


 Glasgow City
 29,960
 205
 0.7%
 29,803
 226
 0.8%


 Highland
 14,720
 350
 2.4%
 14,749
 335
 2.3%


 Inverclyde
 5,682
 176
 3.1%
 5,679
 192
 3.4%


 Midlothian
 5,589
 34
 0.6%
 5,659
 33
 0.6%


 Moray
 5,715
 172
 3.0%
 5,834
 177
 3.0%


 North Ayrshire
 9,092
 112
 1.2%
 9,231
 95
 1.0%


 North Lanarkshire
 22,451
 197
 0.9%
 22,398
 161
 0.7%


 Orkney Islands
 1,366
 12
 0.9%
 1,460
 24
 1.6%


 Perth and Kinross
 7,589
 135
 1.8%
 7,714
 164
 2.1%


 Renfrewshire
 11,779
 374
 3.2%
 11,890
 356
 3.0%


 Scottish Borders
 6,807
 147
 2.2%
 6,864
 169
 2.5%


 Shetland Islands
 1,624
 41
 2.5%
 1,671
 39
 2.3%


 South Ayrshire
 7,614
 217
 2.9%
 7,499
 203
 2.7%


 South Lanarkshire
 19,898
 375
 1.9%
 19,782
 379
 1.9%


 Stirling
 5,751
 83
 1.4%
 5,807
 82
 1.4%


 West Dunbartonshire
 6,609
 31
 0.5%
 6,582
 27
 0.4%


 West Lothian
 10,617
 93
 0.9%
 10,564
 84
 0.8%



  Source: September School Census.

Scottish Criminal Record Office

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the relationship is between the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and the Minister for Justice in respect of responsibility for the Scottish Criminal Record Office.

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the responsibilities of the (a) Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and (b) Justice Department are in respect of the (i) Scottish Criminal Record Office and (ii) fingerprinting policy.

Cathy Jamieson: The Scottish Criminal Record Office (SCRO) is a common police service established through section 36 of the Police (Scotland) Act 1967, under which the facilities and services supplied by the organisation are provided and maintained by the Scottish ministers for promoting the efficiency or effectiveness of the police in Scotland. The maintenance of a fingerprint collection and fingerprint identifications are functions of SCRO as part of the Scottish Fingerprint Service. The Head of Justice Department in the Scottish Executive is the accountable officer for SCRO’s budget. The Lord Advocate is not responsible for the operation of SCRO. Policy decisions in respect of methods of fingerprint identification are a matter for the Scottish Fingerprint Service and chief constables, but it is a matter for the Crown to decide whether to lead such evidence in criminal proceedings.

  Sections 18 to 20 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 set down the procedures required for the taking of prints and samples in criminal investigations. Section 280(5) of the 1995 act also provides for Scottish ministers to authorise fingerprint officers for the purposes of section 280(4) of the 1995 act.

Scottish Executive Publications

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the costs were of publishing, printing, distributing and launching Scotland’s National Cultural Strategy Annual Report 2003.

Mr Frank McAveety: The cost, including web conversion, for publishing and printing the three annual reports of the National Cultural Strategy amounts to £23,595. The report is disseminated widely through routes such as cultural organisations’ networks, local authorities and the Executive’s website. Final distribution costs are not yet known. This year’s report has increased in size compared to last year’s – a tribute to the many varied, wide-ranging cultural initiatives, projects, investment and developments that are recorded, celebrating substantial activity across Scotland. The launch event was also the launch for Scotland’s Culture , the pilot cultural portal.

Social Services

Michael Matheson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria are used for assessing grant applications under section 10 of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: There is no generic guidance available to organisations seeking grants under section 10 of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968, as this is the legislative power used to provide funding from a number of Scottish Executive programmes. Instead, individual departments provide guidance tailored to the specific scheme or schemes they manage.

  Similarly, the criteria used to assess individual grant applications varies across the Scottish Executive and will depend on the conditions of grant set in respect of the many grant programmes from the Scottish Executive.

Speech and Language Therapists

Richard Lochhead (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the average number of applicants is for each place available on (a) speech and language therapy and (b) orthotics courses.

Malcolm Chisholm: On average there are seven applicants for each place available on speech and language therapy and three applicants per place for orthotics courses.

Voluntary Sector

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is regarding the level of charges that voluntary organisations are required to pay in order to register with the Care Commission and what action it will take on the matter.

Mr Tom McCabe: The maximum registration fee levels set annually by Scottish ministers for all care services apply equally to the public and independent sector. Ministers publicly consult on fee levels. Changes in response to consultation have included a new definition of whole-time equivalent employees and the exclusion of volunteers when calculating the size of the service for the purpose of determining fee levels. This was in response to concerns raised by some smaller organisations and those heavily dependent on volunteers.

  Ministers will shortly be consulting on maximum fee levels for 2004-05.

Voluntary Sector

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it is taking to ensure that community care services provided by independent voluntary organisations are adequately funded.

Mr Tom McCabe: The Scottish Executive is looking at a number of measures to make funding for the voluntary sector more effective and sustainable. This includes the Strategic Review of Funding for the Voluntary Sector, managed jointly by the Executive, COSLA and SCVO, which is due to report in the new year.

Voluntary Sector

Mrs Margaret Ewing (Moray) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many consultants who work in NHS hospitals are funded by charitable trusts.

Malcolm Chisholm: This information is not collected centrally.